Yesterday was a strange one on Wall Street for Neoprobe Corp. (NYSE:NEOP), as the company’s shares hit a 52-week but ended the day down about 3 percent.
In early trading Thursday, NEOP shares reached a 52-week high of $3.93, before falling throughout the rest of the day and closing at $3.73.
The early surge may have been related to the company’s continued progress on its drug Lymphoseek, a tracing agent that identifies cancerous lymph nodes in patients with breast cancer and melanoma. Neoprobe said Feb. 14 that a Phase III clinical trial of the drug had reached its "accrual goal" (PDF) related to the size of the study.
That same day, analysts at Rodman & Renshaw initiated coverage on Neoprobe’s shares with an "outperform" rating and a $6 price target. Earlier in the month, analysts at WBB Securities gave NEOP stock a "strong buy" rating and raised its price target $6, to $7.50, American Banking News reported.
CEO David Bupp said he’s confident that the Lymphoseek trial’s endpoints will be met, with clinical data available in the second quarter. Neoprobe is expected to file for regulatory approval of the drug later this year.
The closer Neoprobe gets to commercializing Lymphoseek, the more attractive it becomes to acquirers — and investors.
The company’s stock began trading on the NYSE AmEx exchange earlier this month, after having previously been traded on the NASDAQ OTC bulletin board. NEOP shares were trading at $3.74 in mid-afternoon activity today.